A ragù is an Italian meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. For this pork version, “White Ragu” version, tomatoes are skipped in favor of lemon and rich cream. The pork is braised from a flavorful “fond” made with pancetta and fennel. Served over pappardelle pasta, this comforting dish is bursting with the “bright” flavor of lemon.
During the cooler months of the year, I love to braise stews. I especially love any kind of ragù— a meat sauce with a rich tomato sauce, served over pasta. This ragù recipe intrigued me, because the sauce doesn’t have a drop of tomato. Instead, this ragù has a lemon and cream sauce. Pork is also the choice of meat, that is slowly braised until fork tender.
While you need to plan ahead about 3 hours, the hands on time is about 30 minutes. You start with buying an inexpensive pork butt roast. You also dice fresh fennel, onion and you’ll also need fresh thyme– and two lemons, of course!
In addition, I bought a thick slice of pancetta (think of this as Italian bacon). There’s an interesting step in making the “fond”. Some water is added to pancetta and then cooked until it’s evaporated. It’s that crusty fond that gives so much flavor. To that, the fennel, onion, garlic, herbs and aromatics are added until just browned. Add the cream and some water…
.. pork is nestled . Cover the Dutch oven and place into a 350F oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
Remove the pork, to cool for about 15 minutes. Then shred with a fork. Snacks! Yummy! So tender and delicious.
In the meantime, I cooked a package of Pappardelle Pasta until just al dente– reserving some of the pasta water, once drained.
Before adding the pork back into the Dutch oven, scrape the fond off the edges of the pot (more flavor) and add the lemon zest and juice.
Once the pasta is drained, reserve some of the starchy water. Add the cooked pasta, the Pecorino-Romano cheese and a little bit of the reserved pasta water. As a final finish, add the fennel fronds. Dinner is served!
TASTING NOTES: There is plenty of lemon flavor, for sure. The pork was super tender. My only criticism is to add a lot less of the recommended 3/4 cup of reserved pasta water– as it made my sauce a little thinner than I prefer. I added extra cheese (not such a bad thing) to thicken it back up. Truth be told, I’ve never been a fan of Pecorino cheese, as I think it’s a bit sharp for my sensitive taste buds. In this case, I liked it! This is a nice “twist” on a more traditional red ragù sauce. I love lemon anything, so I liked this recipe.
Pork, Fennel and Lemon Ragù with Pappardelle Pasta (A “White” Ragu Pasta Dish)
Ingredients
- 4 ounces pancetta chopped
- 1 large onion chopped fine
- 1 large fennel bulb 2 tablespoons fronds chopped, stalks discarded, bulb halved, cored, and chopped fine, divided
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons table salt plus salt for cooking pasta
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme minced
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 1½-pound boneless pork butt roast well trimmed and cut in half across grain
- 1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest plus ¼ cup juice (2 lemons)
- 12 ounces pappardelle
- 2 ounces Pecoronia Romano Cheese grated (1cup) plus extra for serving
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pancetta and ⅔ cup water in Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until water has evaporated and dark fond forms on bottom of pot, 8 to 10 minutes. Add onion and fennel bulb and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften and start to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, salt, thyme, and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in cream and 2 cups water, scraping up any browned bits. Add pork and bring to boil over high heat. Cover, transfer to oven, and cook until pork is tender, about 1½ hours.
- Transfer pork to large plate and let cool for 15 minutes. Cover pot so fond will steam and soften. Using spatula, scrape browned bits from sides of pot and stir into sauce. Stir in lemon zest and juice.
- While pork cools, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Using 2 forks, shred pork into bite-size pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat or connective tissue. Return pork and any juices to Dutch oven. Cover and keep warm.
- Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Reserve 2 cups cooking water, then drain pasta and add it to Dutch oven. Add Pecorino and ¾ cup reserved cooking water and stir until sauce is slightly thickened and cheese is fully melted, 2 to 3 minutes. If desired, stir in remaining reserved cooking water, ¼ cup at a time, to adjust sauce consistency. NOTE: Add less water than you think you need. You can alway add more.Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with fennel fronds. Serve immediately, passing extra Pecorino separately.
Notes
This looks heavenly. I have made pasta a times lately, this would be perfect!
Thanks, Stephanie! I didn’t think I’d like fennel, but in this recipe it was really good. Thanks for stopping by.
Watch out adding the lemon at the end it will overpower it add about 1/3 of what it calls for and add more if you want otherwise DELICIOUS
Yes, lemon can be tricky! For us, we love lemon so we didn’t find it overpowering. It’s always a good idea to add a little, then taste. You can always add more! Thanks for the review.
This was one of our item for Christmas Dinner. Whole family loved it.
That’s great! Thank you for the positive feedback.
Can the sauce be frozen?
I’ve never tried freezing it, so I can’t answer that from personal experience. I would think it would freeze okay.
This recipe is amazing! It should get 10 stars. I’ve made it a few times and everyone raves about it. I even served it to a local restaurant chef friend and he commented that it stole the show.
How many does this recipe serve?
I’m sorry that I missed your comment. Email is the fastest way to contact me (posted on my blog). 4-6 servings.
This dish is outstanding! The whole family loves it, even the grandkids. I made it for a locally renowned restaurant chef and he said “It stole the show”. It’s a bit of work to put together but absolutely worth the effort.
Oops, I see I already posted this review a few months ago. Please delete.
LOL. I take that to mean that you really liked this recipe, so you raved about it twice. Thank you!
Made this once for a dinner party. It was delicious! Will be making it again tomorrow. Can I have the pork prepared/cooked (before guests arrive) and sitting in the dutch oven for an hour before serving? I think with adding the cream and water the pork won’t dry out, no?
I would guess that as long as it’s kept on low heat, it should be fine. Whenever something seems a bit “dried out”, chicken stock is my savior!
Flavorful, fancy, inexpensive. I’ve made this several times. Rave reviews.
Thank you for the positive feedback. I didn’t think I liked fennel, until I made this recipe.
Holy moly, was this ever good. This is one of the best Ragù‘s I have ever had. I was a bit sceptical at first because of the minimal seasonings added to this. But boy was I wrong. This was absolutely mind blowingly good!
Thank you for letting me know. I’m so glad that you liked it.